Empowers Africa hosted a special screening of National Geographic’s “Battle for the Elephants” at Guild Hall in East Hampton, on August 10th, 2013, along with fashion designer Donna Karan, artist Davina Dobie, and filmmaker and writer John Heminway.

“We are hosting this fundraiser to raise awareness about Africa’s elephant poaching crisis,” says Krista Krieger [below], a trustee of Empowers Africa. “If everyone on the planet viewed this film, we feel it would go a long way to stop this tragedy.”

As the demand for ivory grows in China and other Asian countries, the number of African elephants being slaughtered has exploded, with approximately 30,000 African elephants killed illegally in 2012, according to the World Wildlife Fund. “‘Battle for the Elephants’ is very educational and outlines the roots of where the demand for ivory is germinating,” Kreiger says, “as well as the pervasiveness and organized criminal element involved in ivory poaching. The film is the story of how one of nature’s most majestic animals is being destroyed by market forces.”

The event raised over $28,000 for Elephant anti-poaching efforts. After the film, there was a panel discussion with special guests including; John Heminway, writer, producer and director of Battle for the Elephants James Deutsch, Executive Director of Africa Program Wildlife Conservation Society, Richard Ruggiero Chief of the Branch of the Near East, South Asia and Africa, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Division of International Conservation, Nicole Mollo Director of Philanthropy and Operations U.S, African Parks and Meredith Ogilvie-Thompson Executive Director of Tusk.

Guests included: David Koch, Dorothy Lichtenstein, Nina Griscom, Stewart Paperin, Executive Vice President of the Open Society Foundations and President of the Soros Economic Development Fund, Lynn Sherr correspondent for ABC news magazine 20/20 and Bryan Christy award-winning author and journalist.